One Choice
by TheSpottedPen
Summary: Ingrid contemplates a hard decision after hearing grim news about her pregnancy. (with brief appearances by Joanna, Freya & Alex)


**Author's Note: **_Thank you WinterAngel452 for being a great beta reader. Hope anyone who reads this enjoys and cross our fingers that Witches of East End comes back to Lifetime soon**!** _

_For those of you who may not remember, Alex is Joanna's ex-lover from the episode Boogie Knights. _

_I make no claims on these characters etc._

**EDIT:** _Now I feel like a bad fan lol. Alex is not only Joanna's ex-lover, but also a palm reader - _not_ a fortune teller._

* * *

><p><strong>ONE CHOICE<strong>

A tray of food lay untouched on the ground while Ingrid lingered by the window. Her hand rested on the budding slope of her belly, but her gaze went far beyond the view outside. One moment overwhelmed her senses – stinging her eyes with the coming of fresh tears and resounding in her ears.

_It's not a blessing. That great power is a danger to everything. _

Swift and cutting right to her womb. In the beginning of the reading, Alexhad weaved a tale that had brought the child to life. Ingrid had withstood Freya's deep disappointment and her mother's confusion when her palm revealed that the child was no part Mandragora, but full Asgardian witch. Healthy and strong - _so strong_. That's why her powers hiccupped. That's why her physical symptoms seemed amplified. The news had Ingrid letting go of the breath she'd been holding, and she'd started to crack a smile. Then Alex had leveled her with a sympathetic yet no-bullshit gaze and covered her palm with her own, anchoring her as the bright tale had turned dark. Ingrid had felt her mother's arms encircle her, only hearing her faintly as she demanded a new reading.

_You must be wrong_, she'd insisted, but Alex's head shook from side to side without mercy. Her palm not lied. Asgard had never seen such a powerful child. It never should.

Her mother had only held tighter.

"We'll find a way."

Ingrid's lips fluttered into some semblance of a smile. Her mother had fought so valiantly for her potential grandchild – refused the idea that her daughter should know the same agony that she'd experienced for lifetimes on end. But this was only one lifetime. One choice.

**...**

"She has to get rid of it."

"You always were overly blunt, Alex, but today you sicken me."

"Fuck your sickness, Joanna!"

In the aftermath of the grim reading, Ingrid stood tucked against a wall by the living room entrance, invisible and listening in on the fierce clash that could only come from two of the most willful and stubborn witches she'd ever known. Alex's voice lowered to a hush, but the words still hit with all the force of the palm reader's power.

"Stop living in denial. You can't save the world. You can't shield Ingrid from this." Her words softened, and Ingrid dared to peek in on the scene. Alex gripped her mother by the shoulders, but her eyes met Ingrid's as she spoke. "That child is your father's greatest dream. The King incarnate, but infinitely worse. If she is born, she will rip apart both this world and Asgard. It is her destiny."

Joanna jerked free from Alex. "Burn your god damn cards -!"

"Believe me, if there was a way to save this child, I'd do it. For you." Joanna recoiled as Alex lifted her hand to cup her cheek. For a minute, her gaze was only for Joanna, but slowly it settled again on the red-haired witch. "For Ingrid. But there just isn't."

She embraced Ingrid's mother then, but her gaze still pierced the young librarian to her soul. She gave Ingrid a short nod that resonated like a death knell through her body. "I think Ingrid is strong enough to do what's right for all of us."

...

Before the window, Ingrid pressed her hand closer to her stomach. No kicks. No bumps. Not a hint of the destructive power she carried beneath her palm. She allowed her eyes a rest, and in the darkness behind her lids she imagined a smiling child with blond curls and Dash's disarming smile. A girl. Ingrid's smile widened. The little girl wondered at the world with Ingrid's wide gaze, hungry to take it all in. Yet as quickly as it had risen, so did her wide smile die. A little girl hungry to end it all.

Tears that merely pricked before burned as they finally slid down her cheeks. Her shoulders bunched and both arms embraced her middle, cradling the beautiful child that couldn't be. Librarian, researcher; scholar and carrier of Beauchamp and Asgardian knowledge. The Key. She'd never thought about being a mother. There was no time to think about it now. Not enough time in the world. Ingrid believed she'd never understand her own mother more than in this present moment.

She let the last of her sobs wash over her, trying not to watch them slip away into the growing sea of tragic memories in her mind. Her hands clung tighter to her thickened waist. Alex was wrong – so very wrong. Ingrid Beauchamp, the woman beyond the witch, was weak. She'd run away with the child and try to live that ever-elusive normal life. Watch it grow and play...and happily die away with the rest of the world for those few years of precious innocence. But the Key would draw on the strength of the Beauchamp line and go where Ingrid could not. The world and all of its infinite curiosities demanded it.

A soft tap at the door heralded her sister. Freya cracked the door open and slid through, pale and gripping at car keys.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Ingrid wiped away her tear streaks before turning to Freya with her head held high. Serenity settled on her face, and she folded her hands before her to keep them from shaking.

"I'm ready."


End file.
